Viewers sad about the end of "Happy Town" and looking for another creepy municipal drama filmed in Canada may find this a port in the storm, though it is more cheaply appointed and less spectacularly cast. Still, it would be pointless to attack the show for not achieving things that are beyond its ambitions.

As a cop drama, Haven--marred by busy and blurry story lines--is barely competent. But as a narrative of eccentric, slightly damaged yet ultimately warm characters, it's quite successful. The deadpan my-badge-is-bigger-than-yours needling between Rose and Bryant is particularly engaging.

Haven not only resembles its Syfy stablemates, but it's also just about as good, which means that if you like a cozy, lived-in mystery with some quirky characters in a pleasant setting--and you don't mind spotty writing and perfunctory camerawork--you may enjoy it.

The pilot doesn't possess much Stephen King grit--in fact, it's more like Syfy whimsy. But give it time; if Haven can become darker and more complex, as Warehouse 13 has, it could become fun summer sci-? TV.

Haven succeeds at laying on the whimsy, and the dialogue is cute. But it's impossible to follow the investigation, and each discovery raises more questions--not about the supernatural, but about the holes in the script.

Why, Haven, why?? Without the Balfour, this might have been a blandish but watchable "X-Files" derivation. With the Balfour, well, his time on screen did not increase my desire to check out this "Haven" in future.

King didn't actually write Haven but "developed" it for the small screen, which is a form of plausible deniability if things go wrong. With Haven--as somnolent as a summer afternoon--they most likely will.

Maybe it's just too soon after the bitter nonending of ABC's "Happy Town," but there's nothing in the pilot of Haven that makes me eager to crawl down the rabbit hole of one more small town mystery with supernatural overtones.

Uninspired writing and Rose's lack of heft combine to undermine the Parker character, who is pivotal not only as the newcomer to this latest permutation of unusual TV hamlets but figures in a serialized twist about what might have brought her the assignment.

Rose and Bryant make for a dull, chemistry-free duo. A love triangle seems inevitable--and inevitably tedious. Worse, the creative team has failed to make the title character, the town of Haven itself, a vivid presence.

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Haven is a small town with a case of "The Troubles". Unfortunately the troubles don't originate within the town but within the writing. Even the phrase "The Troubles" is painful. It's like something a loathed aunt would say to you if you had a stomach ache. It is almost as bad as the term "werepanther" from True Blood. Almost.

The story centers around 3 characters: An FBI agent, a local cop and a smuggler who investigate problems that arise in a port town of Maine. It sounds like a decent set up for television series but the characters are bland, they have no chemistry and the script is so nasty it continues to push you out of the story as you shake your head in shame and disbelief. At points in the series you can just see the anguish in the actor's faces as they have to work their way through scenes that make no sense within the story or their character.

The series feels like the writers have no one editing their work. No litmus test for realism or consistency. The characters swap love interests faster than a daytime drama, and that is no easy feat. By the end of the first episode Audrey is ready to leave the FBI behind to dive deep into Haven's mysteries. I could see it coming but it makes no sense. She has spent a lifetime becoming an FBI agent to throw it away on a photo a couple of news hacks show her. Who writes stuff like this? And every episode has gems like this.

After the third episode I actually decided to turn the show into a drinking game. Every time a character would say or do something stupid I would take a drink. There has yet to be an episode where I don't finish a beer.

I would say this show is a vision of the future when emotionless robots take over and write television dramas but that is an insult to robots since they must, by design, be logical and this show rarely achieves that.

Unless you are looking for a laugh, a drink or an example of writing gone horribly wrong skip this and tune into fringe or x-files reruns.…Full Review »

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I came to this show being a fan of Supernatural, Grimm, and the X-Files. I wasn't expecting a well written gem... just an entertaining sci-fi show. After watching the first episode, though, the writing stuck out... in a very, very bad way. The show begins with Audrey (could barely remember her name) driving to Haven to catch a criminal we don't know much about... by herself. She crashes on a bridge, and this is where things get really bad.

Half of her car is dangling off the cliff. She isn't the least bit paniced. She actually turns off the radio while her car is dangling there. I thought "maybe this show is supposed to be a comedy", but it isn't. But it gets worse... a guy comes and asks her if she needs help. While her car is sitting there about to fall off the cliff. She says no... this is not a time normal people joke around, yet they're doing it.

So he pulls her out anyways, and the car crashes. I didn't think it could get any worse. I was very wrong. He sees that she's wearing a gun on her belt and they draw on each other. What the He saves her life, then pulls a gun on her for no reason. They begin asking who the other one is. The terrible writing is so thick here that it's pathetic.

So later on in the episode, she gets thrown into the ocean unconscious after a power box explodes. She gets rescued by a smuggler... and when she wakes up, she's not the least bit disoriented. Her first question is "where are my clothes?".

Unfortunately the entire first season is like this. The characters treat life or death situations like they're some big joke, they do things that make no logical sense, and they jump to ridiculous conclusions. The only part of the movie where they show emotion is during the "romantic" scenes. And they're so overacted that it might as well "the bold and the beautiful 2.0". It's thicker than a soap opera.

This type of writing just bores you. The characters never really fear for their life, so why should you? I think a good way to describe this show is smallville meets ripoff of xfiles.…Full Review »

This is one of my favorite sci-fi TV shows. The story centers around the strange events that occur in a fictional town in Maine. The town hasThis is one of my favorite sci-fi TV shows. The story centers around the strange events that occur in a fictional town in Maine. The town has a very puzzling and bizarre history and many of its inhabitants suffer from specific afflictions (called "The troubles") that often give them unwanted or dangerous powers. The protagonist of the series is an FBI agent, Audrey, who follows an escaped convict to the town and ends up staying after discovering that her past is somehow connected to the town. Haven has a unique story with a well-developed plot and great cliffhangers at the end of the 2nd season. The acting is terrific and the chemistry between the three main characters (Audrey, Nathan and Duke) is a big draw. I'm really surprised that it isn't on one of the major network stations in the USA.…Full Review »